Archives

RSS Feed (Posts)

What to have Google do with your account if you die

Google today launched an Inactive Account Manager – what you want Google to do with your account should it ever go inactive (i.e., if you were to pass away).

The feature is called Inactive Account Manager — not a great name, we know — and you’ll find it on your Google Account settings page. You can tell us what to do with your Gmail messages and data from several other Google services if your account becomes inactive for any reason.

The service allows you to configure a notification for yourself, should you go any extended length of time without signing in, and following that, allows you to open data to contacts, and delete your account completely.

It’s interesting how little thought has been put into the handling of data in the case of death, especially considering the extent that people are reliant on web services for. but with this announcement I expect a number of other online services to begin releasing services similar to Google’s, or at least defining appropriate polices.